UL, CE Certifications: Explained

Ultravision LED Solutions is proud to have our products meet the USA ‘Underwriters Laboratories’ (UL) set of standards. However, it is very important to note the differences between products that are registered as UL or CE. 

Underwriters Laboratories is an organization that has been around for more than 100 years. "UL is a world leader in product safety testing and certification. For more than 100 years, manufacturers have had their merchandise evaluated and tested for safety risks by our independent, third-party safety certification organization. 

All electronic products should have a UL listing, especially if the product is being sold to the public. In this scenario, your product would be tested by a UL certified lab, and it will be determined whether or not your product(s) will be allowed to carry a UL label. If your product is listed as a UL product, you cannot make changes to the product without permission from the Underwriters Laboratory. 

Conformitè Europëenne (CE) is a large set of standards primarily used in Europe, where companies can label their own product (self-certification) instead of a company or body similar to UL independently testing the product. There is no CE organization that tests the product’s safety. CE is a set of health, safety, and environmental protection standards heavily recognized in the European Union. By affixing the CE mark to a product, a manufacturer is declaring that the product meets all legal requirements to be sold. Since the marking is a self-certification, there is no one that ensures that your product does indeed meet the CE standards as is the case with UL. If a product creates harm to the environment and/or public, the manufacturer can be held accountable by local governing bodies, and the product can be shut down and removed from the market until the issue is remedied.

In many cases Chinese manufacturers of electronic products simply download a CE Listing certificate from the internet and simply change the name and declare that their product meets CE standards.  When, in reality, the Chinese manufacturer has not had any independent testing performed on the electronic products to ensure their safety or compliance.

Buyers should demand that the electronic products have an official UL certification from UL or a CE certification from an independent testing agency.  Buyers should beware of Chinese manufacturers with CE certificates that are simply downloaded from the internet.

All of the Ultravision LED Solutions products have UL certification from UL testing and CE certification from independent third party testing companies.